


Negotiations in 5 Steps

by JohnHHolliday (Methleigh)



Category: 19th Century US RPF
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-21
Updated: 2012-05-21
Packaged: 2017-11-05 18:23:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/409532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Methleigh/pseuds/JohnHHolliday





	Negotiations in 5 Steps

John is not now, nor has he ever been, adept at negotiating. Or convincing gracefully, without threats. In the trial over the Tombstone fiasco, everyone about him said the best move their lawyer, Finch, had made was his refusal to put John on the witness stand.

His five step negotiations tend to work as follows:

Please?  
No?  
No????!!  
Hurt bewilderment.  
Either withdrawal or violence. Or panic, the worst of all.

 

Ideally, the first step in negotiations would be to make his request.

The second would be to logically explain his reasoning, were his request not granted.

The third step would be to listen to the other party's arguments. At this point, if he recognised their validity and supremacy he would withdraw his request.

The fourth would be... there is no fourth, and there is no fifth. At that point, if he had not convinced them, and had not been convinced himself, he would express incredulity. He would then retreat to bitter resentfulness, or fight, offended. Or he would act nonetheless, despite rejection, in extreme inappropriate ways.

 

He does not make bargains. Either the other party will recognise his claims as valid and accede to them, or they will not. If they do not, and he has not discovered he was wrong, he is confounded.

How much, how many people has he lost?


End file.
